Strictly-Extrusion

Brazilian Polo Films, one of Latin America’s leading film producers, decided to further enhance their BOPP film production and looked no further than their reliable partner Brückner to help them achieve this. A new 8.2 m high-speed stretching line from Brückner will increase Polo’s total annual production capacity by another 30,000 tons, putting a total of more than 92.000 tons of high quality packaging film per year at their disposal. Thus, Polo will not only be able to benefit significantly from the still growing Latin American BOPP film market, but they will also be able to expand their export quota considerably.
Polo Films decided to extend its successful, long-lasting partnership with Brückner (this being already their third project together) also due to the line’s convincing technology (production speed 450 m/min, latest 5-layer twin screw extrusion equipment). Brückner’s involvement as a partner whom customers have come to rely on will not only optimize Polo Film’s business, but also help them strengthen their outstanding position within the worldwide film industry through an enhanced product portfolio and highly flexible equipment.
With the new line Polo Films will be able to satisfy the markets` growing needs for:
• metallized and barrier films
• down gauging in laminated applications
white opaque films for labels.

Chinese architects and designers, who until now have generally been limited to plain white PVC or aluminum window profiles for their buildings, can expand their creative options thanks to the broad color palette provided by GE - Plastics’ Geloy acrylic-styrene-acrylonitrile (ASA) resin co-extruded with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) resin. The new Geloy resin product gives white PVC window profiles a colorful coat without the time and expense of painting, and helps deliver excellent thermo-insulation comparable to aluminum window profiles.
The colored window profiles provide a competitive differentiator for molders in a very competitive industry, which is characterized by a significant oversupply of profiles and razor-thin profit margins due to the high cost of raw PVC. Zhongcai Profiles Co., Ltd., in Zhejiang - a building materials production corporation within Zhongcai Group that specializes in manufacturing a wide variety of profiles - is the first molder to produce color profiles for commercial sale using GE’s co-extruded Geloy resin product.
‘Offering builders an innovative and exciting design element - colored window profiles - has given us a leadership position and a reasonable profit in this extremely competitive market,’ said Mr. Yang GuangHua, president, Zhongcai.
Co-extruded Geloy resin window profiles provide outstanding aesthetics that can help enhance or complement any building material, style or design. The resin is available from GE in four different standard colors and can be color-matched.
One of the most weatherable polymers in GE’s portfolio, Geloy ASA resin offers exceptional durability and UV and chemical resistance in outdoor environments. The Geloy resin/PVC profiles retain their uniform color and gloss even when exposed to sunlight, moisture, temperature extremes, chemicals, and environmental pollutants. Another advantage of the Geloy resin co-extrusion is excellent impact resistance in low-temperature environments. The profiles also help deliver good thermo-insulating properties that make them an attractive replacement for aluminum at the affordable cost.
Ease of processing is another highlight of the GE material. Good flow characteristics ensure that the co-extruded Geloy resin layer covers the complex profile structure.
‘GE’s new Geloy/PVC resin co-extruded window profiles have the potential to positively impact the construction materials industry in China by offering a value-added option to building designers,’ said Glen Zhu, Geloy product manager, Asia-Pacific, GE - Plastics. ‘Adding color to window frames opens a whole new area for design innovation. At the same time, these profiles help provide the exceptional performance required of demanding outdoor applications. This combination of color and performance will be a huge competitive advantage for our customers.’

The Converting Systems Group of Davis-Standard, LLC recently upgraded and expanded the machinery capabilities at its extrusion pilot lab in Fulton, N.Y., to create one of the nation’s most versatile R&D facilities for converting processes. The lab, equipped with a Black Clawson Converting Machinery (BCCM) coextrusion line, is geared toward multiple applications including cast polypropylene films, stretch wrap, packaging films, flexible packaging and board coating. Customers can take advantage of a system engineered for accuracy, speed and tension control for new product/process development, resin and equipment experimentation and a host of other trial-based and production uses. The line incorporates the latest AC vector drive technology from SSD Drives, and the line’s robotic winder utilizes the latest Allen-Bradley servo drives system for high speed, high torque spindle positioning with accurate position feedback via fiber optic communications.
“This lab is 80 percent dedicated to customer use, so we combined the very best technology to offer a significant amount of versatility,” explained Richard Tetro, vice president of technology for the Converting Systems Group. “In addition to the extruders and winder, we have a range of feedblocks, dies, feedscrews, and testing equipment to accommodate just about every converting process.”
Examples of the line’s high-performance components include a three-extruder coextrusion arrangement with drives and motors, automatic hopper loaders, a resin blender, drying capabilities, a five-layer coextrusion feedblock, casting section/extrusion coater/laminator, multiple nip rolls, a thickness measuring gauge, cooling system, air knife, treater, pivot guide, unwind and scrapless winder. Specific to the winder, customers can evaluate their products over a wide tension range using multiple transfer

methods. The winder also provides the customer the ability to inline slit down to 2-inch (50 mm) widths with or without bleed trims.
The line is controlled by the Integrator PRO process control system. This system provides distributive line control and monitoring of temperature, line drives and winder, while providing historical trending, diagnostics and other data. In addition, more than 30 feedscrews are available to test shear melt points and run various resins. For specific processes, a screw simulation program is available to determine the best screw for the process and resin. Equipment for comparative measurement of inter-layer gauge uniformity in a coextruded construction is also on site.
According to district sales manager, Adnan Bdour, “This system greatly improves our ability to provide customers with more detailed information. This includes items such as torque feedback, speeds and specific faults in a drive. We also have a lot of features for troubleshooting and maintenance to help customers realize added efficiencies.”
In addition to the extrusion pilot lab, a separate large-scale production coating facility, also in Fulton, is available for R&D support, toll coating and small production runs. The BCCM line in this lab now features differential winding and has an operating speed range up to 3,000 feet per minute (900 meters per minute) with web widths up to 40 inches (1,000mm). As with the pilot lab, customers can test formulations, develop and improve new products and evaluate equipment. The two laboratories combined encompass more than 5,000 square feet (464 square meters) of committed R&D space.

For more information about either laboratory, contact Richard Tetro at tetror@bc-egan.com.

Battenfeld Gloucester Engineering Co., USA, announces it is currently designing and building a 9-extruder, 17-layer cast barrier film line, expandable to 34-layers in the future for one of its customers.
The film produced on this 17-layer line will range from deep-draw forming film to high-barrier film for pouch and retort applications. Specifically designed 9- and 17-layer feedblocks, versatile dies, and enhanced cast film unit all contribute to the re-duction of expensive barrier film resin.
The line includes Battenfeld Gloucester’s Model 1011S winder, with the ability to wind film on either lift-out steel cores or cardboard cores on lift-out steel air shafts.
The 17-layer system will be in operation in the first half of 2006 with more details available soon.
SMS GmbH is the holding for a group of companies internationally active in plant construction and mechanical engineering relating to the processing of steel, non-ferrous metals and plastics. The group is divided into the Business Areas of Metallurgi-cal Plant and Rolling Mill Technology, Tube, Long Product and Forging Technology and Plastics Technology. In the year 2004 some 9,500 employees worldwide generated a turnover of about EUR 2.20 bn.

The opening ceremony for the new Coperion Keya production facility, with more than 24,000 m2 of production area, over 400 employees, and a projected annual output of upwards of 600 machines, was held in Nanjing, China, on November 12, 2005. This significant strategic step will pave the way to growth markets for Coperion, the worldwide full-service supplier of compounding systems, bulk materials handling plants, and components, as well as Global Service.
The new plant in Nanjing is one of the largest and most modern within the Coperion Group, and also offers optimum prospects for further consolidating and continuously expanding the worldwide success of the Standard Twin-Screw Extruders (STS) produced here. ‘Forty STS machines have been sold outside China to date, and the signs are pointing to an increasing growth rate,’ said Manfred Eiden, CEO of Coperion Holding, in his opening speech before over 500 invited guests, ‘and this was just a year after we successfully integrated Nanjing Keya Industry, the Chinese market leader for extruders, into the Coperion Group.’
The foundation for this future-oriented collaboration in the growth market of China was laid in 2003 with a sales cooperation agreement between Coperion and Keya. All business activities and all Keya employees were then integrated into the newly formed subsidiary Coperion Keya in 2004.
The extremely dynamic development of Coperion Keya and its management team led by Guangzhi Liu (CEO) and Ulrich Bartel (Business Unit and Sales Manager) is shown by the fact that the new facility is designed for an annual output of 600 machines.
With the far-sighted strategic decision to expand the China site, resulting in still closer proximity to the customer, improved export opportunities, and even greater competitive advantages in the volume- and growth markets of Asia, the Coperion Group has succeeded in strengthening its leadership position as a solidly based global player and worldwide full-service partner to the plastics-, chemical-, and food industries for the long term.
The Coperion group was founded in 2001 and now combines the competencies of the four companies Coperion Buss, Coperion Keya, Coperion Waeschle, and Coperion Werner & Pfleiderer. In the 2005 financial year, over 2,000 employees worldwide at 25 sites achieved sales of over USD 440 million.

The importance of reliable infrastructure in the supply and distribution of essential goods such as water and gas took centre stage at a workshop for the Italian pipe industry organised by Borealis in Genoa, Italy on February 3, 2006. In many European countries water loss due to leakage in the distribution network remains a
significant problem. In the last few years the rate of loss has risen from 10 to 35 percent of the total volume of distributed water, the European Environment Agency reports.
Borealis brought together the major players in the Italian pipe chain, including local, regional and national authorities, pipe and pipe machinery manufacturers, converters, test institutes and infrastructure owners, to examine the key issues facing water and gas supply and define proposals to guarantee a qualitative utilities infrastructure.
According to Cino Serrao, Borealis Market Development & Public Affairs Southern Europe: “Co-operation between all the parties involved in the pipe chain for gas and water distribution infrastructure remains the most important way to ensure quality and
innovation. The need for improvement is clear and at Borealis we place great
emphasis on delivering value to our customers through marketing products and
technologies that can help social progress, economic development and environmental protection.”
Uplifting the networks’ value in terms of installation, longevity, durability and conservation of the water and gas supply is a top priority. Whilst Italy is privatising its utilities sector, there is a clear need for rules to guarantee a minimum standard of
quality. In certain Italian regions a loss of some 40 percent of drinking water through leaks and cracks in the water distribution pipeline can be noted, while 50% of the population of Mediterranean countries may face water shortages within the next 20 years, according to a report of the European Environment Agency. “In Italy, it is
estimated that a significant 50 billion Euros are required for improving the water system and 4 billion Euros for gas.” added Professor Alessandro Marangoni at the workshop.
Ways in which to guarantee the right investment and to ensure raw material
producers and all parties in the pipe chain can provide the continuous quality and innovation required were the top-line discussion points at the workshop.

Battenfeld Chen just delivered its first PET sheet line to Shanghai, China. This co-extrusion 3-layer line is dedicated to production of PET sheet in a width of 710 mm with an output of 400 kg/h. The pre-dried A-PET and G-PET resin is fed separately into a 90 mm main extruder and a 65 mm co-extruder, both with 32 L/D. The state of the art co-extrusion feed-block and flat die is adapted for sheet in an A/B/A structure. By using different selec-tor plugs, layer sequence changes can be easily achieved without disconnecting the die or feedpipes from the feedblock. The 45° inclined roll stack, well known for com-fortable design for easy start-up and web handling, can fully satisfy the processing of PET sheet in a thickness range of 0.3-1.2 mm. The same roll stack is also competent for the production of PP and PS sheet.
The operation of most of the equipment, including extruders, die, melt pumps and hydraulic screen changers, roll stack and take-off, are realized via a user-friendly touch-screen control panel. A three-station center winder for two webs, with winding diameter up to 800 mm, and manual web cutting and changeover, is equipped on this line. The display and con-trol of winder speed/tension and the speed coordination with the roll stack, and also the length metering is done by an individual touch-screen control panel at the winder. A web accumulator integrated in front of the winder, with a capacity of 15 m, enables a safe cross cutting and web changeover without danger for the operators. The fin-ished roll can be pneumatically moved out from the expanding shaft to a trolley. The thermoforming grade PET sheet is used for medical blister packaging, food trays and also packaging for toys and electric products. To prevent surface scratches dur-ing handling, storage and transportation, a film laminator mounted on the take-off unit applies protective film to one surface of the web. Before leaving the take-off, the other surface of the web is coated with a thin layer of anti-block silicone through an integrated coating device, which facilitates the sheet handling through the thermo-former.
The SMS group is internationally active in plant construction and mechanical engineering relating to the processing of steel, non-ferrous metals and plastics. The group is divided into the Business Areas of Metallurgical Plant and Rolling Mill Technol-ogy, Tube, Long Product and Forging Technology and Plastics Technology. In the year 2003 around 9500 employees world-wide generated a turnover of around EUR 2.20 bn.

DuPont Glass Laminating Solutions is introducing a collection of coloured DuPont™ Butacite® polyvinyl butyral
(PVB) laminated glass interlayers to further extend the product’s use in the architectural and transportation sectors. Particular features of the company’s new solid colour portfolio are the spectrum of colours on offer – 30 in all – and their availability in either transparent or translucent form. Produced at the recently-integrated Retrim facility in Zlin, Czech Republic, the new Butacite® PVB colours will be launched across the globe during the first quarter of 2006.
Originally used in automotive windshields, laminated safety glass with Butacite® PVB interlayer is experiencing increased adoption in residential and commercial applications such as partitions, cladding, curtain walls, doors, and even roofs. Its principle benefits include those of increased safety – i.e. performance under impact – security, sound reduction and solar and ultraviolet control.
DuPont is now complementing these functional properties by launching the new range of solid colours, thus enhancing the product’s architectural and design appeal. Indeed it was based on feedback from these sectors that the company selected and “christened” the 30 colours available – resulting in exotic and appealing names such as ‘Papaya Yellow’, ‘Cantelope Orange’ and ‘Violet Grape’. The colours were also chosen to harmonise with other DuPont products for the residential and commercial sectors, such as the
popular and versatile DuPont™ Corian® solid surfaces. A further novelty of the new range is that all 30 colours are available in
either a ‘Classic’ (transparent) or ‘Discrete’ (translucent) edition. The addition of the translucent option, an innovation in the coloured interlayer market, enables the partial obscuring of objects and items behind the laminated glass – an interesting design option, particularly for use in bathrooms or boutiques for example.

The first public display of the new Butacite® PVB colour portfolio was during a customer event held at the Retrim facility in the Czech Republic where the coloured interlayer is manufactured. The event, which took place at the end of November 2005, also saw the launch of Butacite® G Bright Vision™, a new generation of clear PVB with enhanced optical properties both for automotive
and architectural applications. The customer day marked the completion of investment in the Retrim production facility, which includes a new and highly-sophisticated extrusion line to boost both capability and capacity. DuPont acquired Retrim, a company with expertise in the use of recycled PVB to make high-quality interlayers, in February 2004. Commenting on the launch of its new colour range, Jiri Lang, DuPont Glass Laminating Solutions’ Retrim manager said: “We believe that recognition of
the benefits of laminated glass, particularly in interior design, is growing. In order to encourage this growth, we are launching a comprehensive range of colours in transparent and translucent editions, to enable greater flexibility in the creation of appealing, secure and comfortable interior and exterior spaces.” Reviewing the successful integration of the Retrim business and the company’s subsequent investment in the facility, Luigi Robbiati, Vice- President of DuPont Glass Laminated Solutions, added: “The acquisition of Retrim, the associated capacity increase, and now the launch of the first new product range from the facility – all are strategic measures aimed at achieving our vision of becoming the preferred supplier and leading innovator of the glass laminating industry.”

Borealis brings a new polypropylene Borpact™ grade to film converters and product manufacturers which offers solutions to the packaging industry due to a unique combination of good low temperature resistance, high stiffness, high heat resistance plus excellent optical properties.
Borpact BC914TF is an innovative heterophasic copolymer for thermoformed, cast and blown film. It can deliver easy-to-process, user-friendly and attractively-finished packaging through a brand new combination of properties. The latest addition to the Borpact generation provides the following typical benefits:
• Label film, for example, transparent, printed labels for bottles: high stiffness, good optics, good punching
• Food packaging, for example printed sleeves for fresh and frozen bread: high stiffness, sterilisable
• Retortable stand-up pouch, for example, for fresh pet food: easy tear opening; FDA approval; high seam seal strength
• Carrier layer for peelable lidding film, for example, on microwaveable food containers: high stiffness, good processing, high heat resistance
• Transparent thermoformed cups and trays, for example, low temperature or microwaveable food applications, such as ready-to-eat food: good low temperature resistance, good optics and thermoformability.
Peter Niedersüß, Product Development Engineer for Borealis’ film business, comments: ‘By combining the well-established properties of polypropylene heterophasic copolymers with especially good transparency and optics, Borpact BC914TF will ensure manufacturers achieve an attractive, high-quality finish to their packaging. Consumers will benefit from the convenience of new packaging types. These include easy-open pouches replacing tinned foods.’
Borealis has more than 40 years experience in providing advanced polyolefin solutions for industries using film, coating and thermoforming products. With foresight throughout the value chain and a focus on customer needs, Borealis continues to provide innovative, value creating PP and PE solutions for the film industry.
Borealis is a leading, innovative provider of plastics solutions with more than 40 years of experience in polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP). Borealis products are converted by its customers into daily life products such as food packaging, medical devices, diapers, distribution pipes, automotive parts and power cables.

The presence at CHINAPLAS from April 26 to 29 in Shanghai is indispensable for KIEFEL Extrusion GmbH, the German specialist in the construction of blown film extrusion lines: interested visitors will find the machinery manufacturer from Worms in Hall W2 – Stand D01. Asia’s most important plastics fair, that will take place at the Shanghai New International Expo Center, is vital for KIEFEL in Asia’s most important market. The first steps in opening up the market, that is considered to be a challenging one, were already been taken in 2004 with the sale of a new high tech 3 layer line. In 2005 the first 7-layer line for production of barrier film was sold in China. The demand for such technically demanding machines is evidence of the way the local customers will develop in the coming years: towards higher value packaging solutions!

With its very successful KIRION® range of machines, KIEFEL is optimally positioned for this development. “Whether the demand is for multi-layer film or high-end solutions, we always have suitably priced answers”, states Director of Sales Worldwide Kurt Freye. In order to be able to meet special challenges, such as FFS (Form, Fill and Seal) systems for the production and conversion of heavy duty bags, the German extrusion line specialist has several modules available, for example the Enhanced Cooling Package (ECP).

As the Chinese, but also the Asian market, will grow overall more strongly in the coming years than the European or North American markets, Freye sees great potential for his company in the Far East: “China still has a great need to catch up in investment. With the steadily increasing wealth of the population, consumption of plastics will, for example, grow more strongly than in other markets, up to at least 2010.”